Defence Aircraft Noise

RAAF Base Pearce

RAAF Base Pearce

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Pearce is located in the township of Bullsbrook. It is the main Air Force base in Western Australia, located 45km north-west of the Perth central business precinct. Pearce also controls a satellite airfield; Gin Gin, for overflow training traffic. Gin Gin Airfield is located 30 kilometres north of Pearce.

RAAF Base Pearce primary role is pilot training for Air Force, Navy and the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

It is the home base of:

No 2 Flying Training School

No 79 Squadron

No 25 (City of Perth) Squadron

Defence Support and Reform Group – Pearce

No 453 Squadron Detachment Pearce (Air Traffic Control)

No 2 Expeditionary Health Squadron Detachment Pearce

No 3 Security Forces Squadron Detachment Pearce

No 7 Wing Australian Air Force cadets

In 2014 the base was the hub for the search of the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It hosted search aircraft from six other nations including a United States Navy, P-8A Poseidon, AP-3C Orions of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and Republic of Korea Navy, C-130 Hercules from the Royal Malaysian Air Force and Republic of Korea Air Force, and Ilyushin Il-76s of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force.

The base has two parallel runways running north south (18R/36L and 18L/36R) and a southwest-northeast runway (05/23)

AP-3C Orions sit on the tarmac at RAAF Base Pearce prior to planned flights during operation SOUTHERN INDIAN OCEAN